Lighter



I. FLORMAN Dec. 10, 1940.

LIGHTER Filed Aug. 31, 1940 Patented Dec. 1 0, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LIGHTER Irving Florman, New York, N. Y. Application August 31, 1940, Serial No. 355,083 2 Claims. (01. 67 7.1)

The present invention relates to lighters,-and particularly to pocket lighters for cigars and cigarettes.

This application presents certain improvements 5 on the lighter disclosed in my application S. N.

352,430, filed August 13, 1940.

The primary object of the present invention is to produce a lighter of extremely simple construction which operates with certainty at all tain improvements over the structure shown in the prior application.

The first object of the invention is to provide a pyrophoric lighter having a snufier member which is manually moved to actuate a sparking wheel or flint wheel, and which when in raised position is held by gravity in such raised position so as to prevent the snufier from falling even partly over the flame. This arrangement both prevents the'extinguishing of the flame by the snuffer, and prevents the flame from heating the snufier and the parts contained therein which might destroy the temper of these parts. In its more specific aspects, this feature of the inven- 5 tion lies in the construction of thesnuffer and its mounting on a pivot in such a way'that when the snufier is raised a greater portion thereof lies behind the pivot than in front thereof, so that the snuffer is overbalanced to a raised position.

In the prior application, means are provided on the snuffer and on the wick tube for resiliently resisting raising of the snuifer until acertain pressure is applied thereto, and a pawl member is provided for connecting the shutter tothe flint wheel. According to the prior application, also,

the resilient means includes a spring having portions engaging on inwardly turned tongues at the lower edges of the snufl'er. A feature of the present invention is that the resilient means are connected to the top of the snufler only, and that the snuffer cap mounted within the snufier forms the sole connection between such resilient means and the snuffer. According to another feature of The present invention is designed to offer cerv pawl for operating the flint wheel are formed of a single piece of sheet metal.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a square bodied lighter having a snuffer member and a manually operated finger piece therefor, in which the upward movement of the snufier member is limited by engagement of the finger piece with the body of the lighter, and particularly with the back wall thereof at or adjacent its upper edge.

The lighter, of course, has the advantages of that described in my prior application, S. N. 352,430, in that it wipes flint chips from the wick or wick tube at each operation, so as to prevent the accumulation of such chips on the wick and I the consequent difliculty of igniting the same.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description particularly when taken in conjunc- I tion with the accompanying drawing which forms a part thereof. 5

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a lighter embodying the invention in operated position;

Fig. 2 is a cross section through the lighter of Fig. 1 in inoperative position;

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewof the spring and pawl members; and I i Fig. 5 is a detail-view of the upper rear corner of the lighter in the position shown in Fig. 1.

The lighter'comprises a body having side walls 2,, and walls 4 a bottom wall 6 and a top wall 8.

, ed plug i6 and containing a coil spring! which engages the bottom of a flint 20, pushing the flint upwardly. The flint engages the periphery of a flint wheel 22 whichis mounted on a shaft 24 carried in ears 28 upstanding from the top wall- 8. By rotation, of the wheel 22, sparks are produced from the flint 2B.

The wick 28 extends upwardly through a wick tube 30, likewise mounted in the top wall 8. The wick, of course, extends downwardly into the absorbent cotton l0 and draws fluid therefrom.

Mounted onthe outside of the ears 26 is'a snuffer member having side walls 32 which are pivoted on screws 34 threaded into the-ends of v fuel chamber.

section 42. This is securely mounted on the outside of the wick tube above the top wall 8 of the Connected to the snuffer in a manner to be described is a fiint chip wiper and catch member inthe form of a piece of sheet metal. This piece is of U-shape, having legs 44 extending downwardly from the transverse portion 46. The lower ends of these legs are bent inwardly towards each other as indicated at 48. The space between thelower ends 48 of the legs 44 is less than the greatest diameter of the annular member 42 and preferably about equal to the outside diameter of wick tube 30.

A snufler cap 54 is arranged within the snuffer and above the wick tube. This snufier cap is connected to the top wall 36 by a screw or other securing member 56. Screw 56 passes through the bight 46 of the U-shaped member, and portion 46 is thus held close to the top wall 16 by the cap 56 (see Fig. 2). The snufier cap thus forms the sole connection between the U-shaped member and the snuffer.

Motionis imparted to the hint wheel 22 by a pawl having a downwardly projecting end 62 forming a. tooth which is engageable with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 64 rigidly secured to the flint wheel 22 and a leg to which is integral with portion 48 of the U-shaped spring clip member.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows: When the mechanism is in the position shown in Fig. 2, in order to operate the lighter the finger or thumb is applied to the finger piece 88 and a downward pressure is exerted thereon in the direction indicated by the arrow. Since the spring portions 48 are beneath the greatest diameter of the annular member42, they will resist any upward movement of the snufier until their resilience is overcome. When sumcient pressure is I applied, however, the spring member 48 will suddenly release the snufier and it will rise with a quick motion. As the snufler rises, spring portions 48 move past the outside of wick tube It thus removing fiint chips therefrom. At the same time, the pawl 82 turns wheel 84 and there-' by causes flint wheel 22 to throw sparks onto the clean wick '28. Because of this sudden motion produced by a considerable pressure, this movement of the flint wheel will be in the nature of a snap motion and will be certain to produce a sufficient spark to ignite the wick.

When the snufier reaches its raised position, shown inFig. 1, there is, of course, no force holding it in such position. The snufi'er can then be turned back without any resistance whatsoever through the angular extent of one of the teeth of wheel 64, which in itself may be as much as 15; and may turn even further than this if the pawl .2 slides over some of the teeth, which, of course, it cando without any substantial force in many circumstances. Under these conditions the snuffer might be l kely to fall back to a position in which it would overhang the wick. This might extinguish the flame or interfere with the use of the same. In addition the snuffer and particularly the spring parts therein would be subjected to the heat of the flame, and might lose their temper so as to render them useless. In order to avoid this, the snufler is made so that when raised it is overbalanced to afully open position. As will be noted the axis of the shaft 24 is located at substantially half'the height of the snufler body, so that the body itself is balanced about this axis when in vertical position, or its center of gravity is' vertically aligned with the pivot axis Onthe other hand, the extension 38 is to the rear of the pivot, and, therefore, gives an excess of weight on the rear side of the pivot. This finger piece 38 may be made of sumcient thickness and mass to insure the necessary overbalance for holding the snuifer in raised positions.

When the snufier is raised, it is, of course, necessary to provide a stop therefor. In the present invention the movement of the snuflfer is stopped, without using any other'than a simple form of rectangular body, by engagement of the finger piece with the back wall of the body. As will be seen from Fig. 5, the finger piece engages with the upper edge of the back wall as at 68, and thus stops the upward movement of the snufi'er.

After the lighter has been operated, the snufier may be returned by pressure of the finger to its normal or closed position. As it moves downwardly the spring portions 48 will again remove flint chips from the wick and wick tube and then snap over the ring 42 to hold the snufier member against accidental opening in the pocket.

While I have described herein one embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to limit myself thereby, except within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 4

1. In a cigarette lighter, a fuel chamber, a wick communicating with said fuel chamber, a wick tube holding said wick, a snuifer movable to cover and uncover said wick, means operated by movement of said snufler to uncover the wick to project a spark upon said wick, means to move said snuifer, said snuffer having a top wall, and cooperating resilient meansconnected to the top wall of said snuifer only, and on said wick tube for preventing movement of said snufier until a predetermined pressure has been applied to said moving means, said cooperating means comprising an enlargement on said wick tube, and a U-shaped member arranged within said snuffer, a snuffer cap arranged within said snufler to overlie said wick tube, said snufier cap engaging within said U-shaped member, and means extending through said .U-shaped member connecting said snuifer cap to the top wall of the snufier, the legs of said U-shaped members having their lower ends spaced apart by a distance less than the dimension of said enlargement so as to snap beneath said enlargement andhoid said SIlllfieI resiliently inlowered position, whereby the lower ends of said U -shaped member wipe flint chips from the wick and wick tube and said means for projecting a spark upon said wick comprising a flint, a rotatably mounted fiint wheel and an integral extension of said U-shaped member having a downwardly turned end forming a pawl engaging said ratchet wheel.

2. In a cigarette lighter, a fuel chamber, a wick communicating with said fuel chamber, a wick tube holding said wick, a pivoted snufler movable to cover and uncover said wick, means operated by movement of said snufl'er to uncover the wick to project a spark upon said wick, means to move said snufier, said snufler having a top wall, and

cooperating resilient means connected to the to]! wall of said snufler only and on said wick tube for preventing movement of said snufler. until a predetermined pressure has been applied to said moving means, said cooperating means comprising an enlargement on said wick tube, and a U-shaped member arranged within said snufler,

the legs of said U-shaped members-having their lower ends spaced apart by a distance less than the dimension oi said enlargement so as to snap beneath said enlargement and hold said snufler resiliently in lowered position, whereby the lower ends 01. said U-shaped member wipe flint chips from the wick and wick tube and said means for projecting a spark upon said wick comprising a flint, a flint wheel mounted to turn about the same axis as said snufler engaging said flint, a ratchet=wheel operatively connected to said flint wheel and an integral extension of said U-sh-aped member having a downwardly turned end forming a pawl engaging said ratchet wheel.

IRVING FLORMAN.

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